Raphael Exam - Great Masters

Raphael Santi (1483- 1520)

• Born in Urbino on Good Friday and died in Rome on good friday

• Wealthy town comes under the leadership under

• one of the most lively centers 

• bright blue light in urbino, no haziness

• Giovani Santi (father) and mother died young, daughter to a wealthy merchant. His mother nursed all of her children (uncommon of the time)

• Giovanni was a painter and poet, court painter to Frederico

• best known for his biography of the Duke (Cronoca)

• dedicated to the duke’s son

• Raphael spent his early life in or near the court

• Likely learning in his father’s studio learning fresco and oil and assisting him as an apprentice occasionally.

• Mother dies when he is 8, father dies when he is 11

• Pietro Perugino (1450-1523) becomes his teacher after his father dies

Angels, Baronci Altarpiece

1500

oil on wood

Sant Agostino, Città di Castello, Louvre/Brescia

• Raphael’s first recorded commission

• dedicate to Nicholas of tolentino (a hermit)

• the angels showcases his interest in complementary color and clear lines 

• strawberry blond and fair skin typical of people of the Adriatic coast

• There was a preliminary drawing for this work

Crucifixion

Città di Castello Altarpiece

c. 1502

oil on wood

National Gallery, London

• First signed work

• about 20 at the time

• formed the central part of an altarpiece inset into a large stone frame

• dominivo gavari commissioned

• mary magdalene, john evangelist, The Virgin, St. Jerome depicted in the painting

• Angels catch Christ’s blood in chalaces

• sun and moon appear above the figures as in the biblical story

• perhaps St.Jerome is placed her because this was for a Dominican church

• The letters are painted in silver (his signing at the bottom)

• Often referred to as the mond altarpiece

• shows an adherence to his master also shows his independence (far reaching landscape, brighter color palette)

• For San domenico

• May have been inspired by Perugino in the composition (double decker construction)

Three Graces

c. 1503-04

oil on wood

17.1 x 17.1 cm

MuséeCondé, Chantilly, France

• Secular

• likely connected to knights dream because of a poem that connects them

• raphael’s first study of the female nude

• not based on a living model based on a sculpture in Sienna

• In Sienna in 1503 helping to decorate the library and saw the sculpture

• attendance of Venus, representing Chastity, beauty and love

• guard hera’s garden (hold apples)

• northern inspired

Vision of a Knight, (or The Knights Dream)

1503-04, oil on wood

17.1 x 17.1 cm

National Gallery, London

• Secular

• Venus (right) and Minerva (left)

• Young knight below a laurel tree (symbolizing Victory and achevement)

• Minerva/virtue holds a book

• Venus/grace holds white flowers

• allegory of the choice between virtue and grace like Hercules (he chose virtue)

The Marriage of the Virgin

1504

Oil on round headed panel

174 x 121 cm

Brera, Milan

• 5ft x 3ft

• commissioned by albentzini

• purchased the chapel dedicated to St.Joseph

• Depicts the marriage between the two

• Important that they hold sticks (whoever’s rod flowers or has a perching dove will be Mary’s husband)

• in front of the temple getting married

• painting is very similar to perugino

• Raphael signs the temple

• Mary is depicted in red and blue wearing shoes (focuses on the ring)

• behind the virgin are other young virgins from the temple

• inspired by the tempietto by his uncle Vermonte

• The tempietto references the dome of the rock in Jerusalem 

• This is important as Mary and Joseph are both descendants of David

Madonna of the Grand Duke

c. 1505

Oil on wood

84 x 55 cm

Palazzo Pitti, Florence

• 33 x 22in

• The grand Duke of Tuscany (Ferdinand III) owned the work and brought it everywhere with him

• The figures are much fleshier and a sort of sfumato that sets him apart from his teacher and influenced by Leonardo

• There is no hard edge

• The Christ child has a strange confidence

• VM is also unadorned 

• less decorative in style than his earlier works

Madonna del Prato (of the Meadow)

c. 1505, Oil on wood

113 x 88 cm

Kunsthistorisches, Vienna

• Pyramidal structure inspired by Leo’s Madonna and Child and St. Anne

• The twisted structures of the figures shows inspiration of Michaelangelo

• The light skin and hair typical of early Raphael

• The Christ child has a weirdly mature body language/pose

• Similarly posed figures in Leonardo’s Virgin of the Rocks

• There is a clear light

• Rich and saturated jewel tones

The Madonna of the Goldfinch

c. 1505

Uffizi, Florence

• 43 x 33 in

• painted for Lorenzo Nasi his friend for his wedding

• Christ and John the Baptist offering a goldfinch to Christ

• Inspired by Michaelangelo’s Bruge Madonna

• Here she reads

• Christ child is standing in a contrapposto pose

• Goldfinch represents passion

• Painting was damaged in the collapse of the Nasi home

• restoration took 10 years 

La belle jardinière

c. 1507

Louvre, Paris

• Oil on panel

• arched top painting

• 3rd painting in the series

• Madonna remains the same strawberry blond woman

• The child figures switch places

• Dersartzi commission

• Culmination of the features of the earlier works

• John the Baptist does not engage with the Christ child at all

• Christ child looks at the VM

Portrait of Agnolo and Maddalena Strotzi Doni

1505-06

Oil on wood

63 x 45 cm

Palazzo Pitti, Florence

• One of the greatest influence by Leonardo

• 24 x 18 in

• Angnolo was a wool merchant

• Maddalena was 15 when marries

• Wedding portraits

• Were originally hinged with Angnolo on the left (read first)

• Maddalena’s portrait is strikingly similar to the Mona Lisa 

• Clarity of light and the line

• Far more saturated hues

• The sprezzatura and Jewels express her wealth

The Deposition of Christ

1507

Oil on wood

184 x 176 cm

Galleria Borghese, Rome

• Atlaena commissioned

• For a burial chapel (For the murdering of her son Grifonetto)

• The predella depicts the 3 virtues

• Entombment scene

• Group of 3 women on the right support the fainting VM

• The two men without halos carry the body of Christ

• Mary Madeline on the left side

• The you figure on the right is believed to be Grifonetto

• Turns to Michaelangelo for inspiration here

• Work was restarted in 2005

Stanza della Segnatura

1509-10

Fresco

Vatican, Rome

• 1508 Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael to decorate the papal apartments

• 4 large rooms (Stanze) 

• Serve as the pope's residence

• Julius II refused to live in the apartments of the previous pope

• Segnatura means signature (used as a library) and first to be decorated (1509-1511)

• Theology, law, poetry and philosophy are the themes of the walls

• 4 branches of human knowledge

• Neoplatonic concepts present here 

• Disputa (law), School of Athens (philosophy)

• parnassus( theology), Virtues and rulers (justice)

• The program for the setup of the room comes from Theologian, 

• Across from the disputa is philosophy, pre Christian search for knowledge that is complete through the finding of religion

• Parnassus representing the arts

• Law, divided by civil and canon law

• The harmony of all these aspects completes all aspects of knowledge

School of Athens (Philosophy Wall)

1509-1510

Fresco

Vatican, Rome

19 ft x 27 ft

• Represents philosophy and the pre-Christian search for knowledge.

• Set in an ancient Roman bathhouse with coffered ceilings, creating a classical space.

• Central figures: Plato (modeled after Leonardo da Vinci) and Aristotle.

  • Plato holds Timaeus and points to the sky, emphasizing metaphysical ideals.

  • Aristotle holds Ethics and gestures toward the earth, emphasizing empirical knowledge.

• Other figures:

  • Socrates (green, on Plato’s side).

  • Epicurus (blue, left corner).

  • Pythagoras (foreground, writing on a board).

  • Michelangelo included as a figure.

• Uses linear and atmospheric perspective.

Disputa (Disputation of the Holy Sacrament) (Theology Wall)

1509-1510

Fresco

Vatican, Rome

19 ft x 27 ft

• Also called Triumph of the Church.

• Double-decker composition: Church Militant (earthly) and Church Triumphant (heavenly).

  • Heavenly realm:

    • God the Father at the top.

    • Holy Spirit in a golden orb.

    • Christ in the center, flanked by the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist.

    • Old and New Testament figures surround them.

  • Earthly realm:

    • Large monstrance on an altar represents the Eucharist (Christ’s body, transubstantiation).

    • Figures include St. Peter, Moses, St. Paul, and other religious leaders.

Parnassus (Poetry Wall)

1509-1510

Fresco

Vatican, Rome

• Represents poetry and artistic inspiration.

• Central figure: Apollo, wearing blue drapery under a laurel tree.

• Surrounded by the Nine Muses, who inspire the arts.

• Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poetry, sits next to Apollo in white.

• Homer, blind, depicted in blue and yellow robes.

• Fountain: Castalia, symbolizing poetic inspiration.

Law (Justice Wall)

1509-1510

Fresco

Vatican, Rome

• Represents law, divided into civil law and canon law.

• Top lunette:

  • Temperance (right), Fortitude (left), and Prudence (center).

  • Justice depicted in the vault above.

• Figures on either side of the window:

  • Left: Emperor Justinian I (represents civil law).

  • Right: St. Raymond (receiving canon law).

• Fresco balances free thinking with the necessity of justice and law.

The Madonna of Foligno

1511-12

Oil on wood

Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican, Rome

11 ft 3 x 6ft 3

• oil on panel transferred to canvas

• Conti commissioned to stand on the high altar of the Church of Aracoeli in Rome.

• Depicts the town of Foligno in the background because that is where the commissioner was from

• Franciscan church at the time

• Conti was a member of the clergy, and private secretary for Pope and possibly cardinal (seen in a red cardinal robe in the painting)

• To honor VM for saving his home after it was hit by the object in the painting

• preparatory drawing for this work

• Clouds composed of cherubs and the VM and Christ are framed by a huge halo or mandorla

• St. Francis in a grey robe, St Jerome in blue

• Christ holds a Tabula assanta

• Arch of the crescent moon sometimes used a symbolism for the VM

• The emotive expression of St,.Francis anticipates the emotive depictions of saints during the baroque period

The Triumph of Galatea

1511-13

Fresco

295 x 224 cm

Villa Farnesina, Rome

• Next to a fresco of polycleidus

• Galatea on a chariot

• Polycleidus is in love with Galatea

• double decker composition

• influence of the sistine ceiling

• Raphael’s only 

• The work seems completely separate from the Polycleidus work and orgininally had a painted frame completely separating the two

Sistine Madonna

c. 1513-14

Oil on canvas

265 x 196 cm

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden

8ft 81/2 by 6ft 12

• Commissioned by Pope Julius II

• part of the decoration for the pope’s funeral

• Kneeling Saint sixtus I is the patron saint of the della rovere family and also depicted as a portrait of pope Julius II

• Saint Barbara on the right, the tower is her symbol

• The puti beneath them may just be decorative

• one of the most known works of it’s time and highly influential8ft 81/2 by 6ft 12

• Commissioned by Pope Julius II

• part of the decoration for the pope’s funeral

• Kneeling Saint sixtus I is the patron saint of the della rovere family and also depicted as a portrait of pope Julius II

• Saint Barbara on the right, the tower is her symbol

• The puti beneath them may just be decorative

• one of the most known works of it’s time and highly influential

Madonna della Sedia

1513-14

Oil on wood

diameter 71 cm

Galleria Palatina (Pitti), Florence

• Sedia (chair)

• 30 in in diameter

• On a hinged frame 

• no documents related to this work

• in Rome in the 1570’s and in the 1580’s back in the Florence with the Duke

• representative if Raphael’s more mature madonnas with her darker Roman features

• Referred to as madonna of the people

• Margarita Luti (?) daughter of a baker that Raphael had an affair with her

• Madonna wears an eastern inspired head scarf

• John the baptist to her right with worshiping hands

• VM and child look at the viewer

• VM has an exaggerated sitting pose with her knees draped in blue

• A softness to the color and figures

• Reminiscent of Ruvine and venetian painting

• An intimate and domestic scene

• Likely intended for private devotion not

• Legend about an innkeeper's daughter and her child and painted them on the top of the wine barrel

Woman with a Veil (La donna velata)

1514-16

Oil on canvas

33 x 23 in

Palazzo Pitti, Florence

• Dressed in silk 

• example of Raphael’s more mature madonna

• Harmonious color scheme

• Shows his exposure to Venetian coloring

• Regal and serene sitter but not a confrontational gaze

• Woman of wealth with her adornments and sleeves

• and the veil suggests she is a pious woman

• If she is a real woman she is like

La Fornarina

1518-1519

Oil on wood

85 x 60 cm

Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome

• “The little baker girl”

• Same woman in La Donna velata

• bare to the waist and the same jewelry

• Trimmed blue ribbon on her arm also where Raphael signs the painting claiming both the woman and the painting

• She originally had a ring on her left ring finger

• In 1514 Raphael was forced to be engaged

• Her ring was painted out and revealed in restoration

• Julio Romano likely painted the ring out to save the secret after Raphael dies

• May have been a private portrait or a marriage portrait

• She sits before a Myrtle tree often associated with marriage

Logia de Psyche

1518

Fresco

Villa Farnesina, Rome

• 1517 Augustino Cigi commissioned the frescoes for wedding to Francesca Odiesci

• Cupid and psyche points to their own marriage

• Gather and dine in the loggia after the wedding

• Proto Baroque with an open pergola

• The ceiling read like tapestries

• Fruit and vegetable and flower garlands with greenery from all seasons

• Garlands are not by Raphael

• Two center panels depict the end of the myth

Ezechiel’s Vision

1518

Oil on wood

40 x 29 cm

Palazzo Pitti, Florence

• Vincenzo Erconalni commissioned it

• stylistically inspired by the Sistine chapel

• been in Florence since 1589

• ezichiel prophesied the destruction of the temple of Jerusalem

• man sits on a throne of 4 figures symbols of the evangelist

• Ezechiel is on the shore with the light shining upon him

• Double decker composition

• Vissari believes the work to be a vision of st.john exiled on patmos 

Transfiguration

1517-20

Oil on wood

405 x 278 cm

Vatican Museum, Rome

• 160 x 109 in

• commissioned by cardinal Julio de Medici, named archbishop in the cathedral of Narbonne

• Gift for the cathedral

• double decker composition

• below: miracle of the possessed boy bringing the boy to the apostles

• above: transfiguration 

• The description in the gospel is what happens after this scene

• Raphael’s final work, placed at his funeral

• Raphael was buried in the pantheon upon his request

• His finance was buried to his right